Goal Reached: Still Sugar Free Three Weeks In (and Happy Birthday, Denisa!)

Well, here I am on the other side of my goal. It’s been three weeks, and I can now officially have sugar again. My kids kept asking me when I’d be done with it–I think they’ve been missing my baked goodies some. I’ve told them that I wasn’t sure I’d *ever* be “done with it,” and now that the official goal is over, I’m thinking more and more that’s the case. This is a new lifestyle for me, just like daily exercise has become par for the course.

Here’s the thing: I’m definitely feeling better. I feel more alert and awake, even on the days when I don’t get a ton of sleep. Is some of that a placebo effect? No idea. Do I care? Nope. Because there’s also the second point: I’ve lost 3.8 pounds in these three weeks, without doing anything resembling a diet other than cutting out the sweets. I’ve eaten as much as I wanted, whenever I wanted. I have no idea how long this trend will continue, but I’m certainly going to stick with the “avoid sugary foods” idea as long as it does.

Any which way you cut it, I was eating too many sweets, and the simple act of not doing that anymore is a very good thing.

What’s even stranger is the fact that I’ve stopped really feeling the need to eat all those sweets. Denisa and I watched this documentary about pastries (because pastries), and she asked me if it didn’t make me want to eat them. It didn’t. I could look at them and just acknowledge they’d be tasty, but not feel the need to go out and down as many pastries as I could right then. I’m not saying I’ve totally kicked the habit. I still miss my ice cream at night when I’m watching something on Netflix, but it isn’t as pressing anymore. Also, I’ve found a smoothie does the trick quite well. (The nice thing about that is that it’s a much more involved process to make a smoothie than it is to scoop ice cream. Since I’m usually feeling lazy by the evening, my inherent sloth is finally working *for* me instead of *against* me. Woo hoo!)

Still, I do plan on making exceptions now. It’s Denisa’s birthday today, so I’ll have dessert tonight to celebrate. But like I said back when I set the goal, the plan is to stick to 1-2 desserts a week from here on out. It’ll slow down the weight loss, but I’m not too worried about that. I mainly just want to keep feeling better.

Then again, as I look at this plan and project it out, some things do come up. What about Thanksgiving and the holiday season? Do I have to scrimp then too? And what about at parties?

I think when those occasions arise, I’ll give myself some slack. The big idea is to have the baseline be limited sweets, with the exception being more now and then. As long as that works, then I should be good to go.

In any case, I’m declaring this a success. I’ll still be checking in each Wednesday at the end of my normal blog post to update you on what I had in the way of sweets that week (and give a brief weight loss report.) Why? Because I’ve found that for me, a little public accountability goes a long way . . .

Thanks for the public support, all!

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